Budapest 2008

We flew to Budapest on Friday 1st Feb for a 3 night stay with Jet 2 from Manchester. The flight journey was 2 hrs and 16 minutes and the flights were very good. We had prebooked our seats to ensure extra leg room, and it is approx £7.50 per flight. I think it is definetly worth booking if you are on a flight over 2 hours as we had loads of space. Ryanair also fly from Liverpool and Malev from London. We had booked a Danube River View room at the Intercontinental Hotel in Pest as recommended by my colleague who had stayed there last year.

The airport is about 30 - 45 mins away from the city and I would recommend booking the airport shuttle bus. The taxis overcharge and if you have to get a taxi make sure that you agree a price before getting in and definetly make sure the meter is on zero. The minibus is approx £10 return. Budapest is split into 2 cities divided by the River Danube (often called the Blue Danube but believe me there is not anything blue aboout it!!!!!!). The currency used is Hungarian Forint (HUF). Pest is the newer area and Buda is where Castle Hill and the Royal Palace is.

The river view room we had booked was worth every penny, it had a huge panoramic window overlooking the River, Royal Palace and Buda. We arrived about 8ish and there was an English Pub behind the Hotel called the John Bull Pub. Although it said English Pub, there was not really anything English about it other then the painted Union Flag outside. The pub served English and Hungarian food, but it was difficult to get used to people smoking around you again after being smoke free since July.

The next day we got up early and went for breakfast at McCafe which is owned by Mcdonalds. The restaurant is split into 2, so one side is fast food and the other side is a cafe selling Coffee, Latte, Pastries and Cakes. They were very reasonable too. It was very cold but dry and we had expected rain but lucky for us, it did not rain until later in the afternoon when we were heading back to the hotel.

We walked over the Chain Bridge to Buda and got the Funicular up to Castle Hill in Buda. It was HUF 700 one way (approx £2.00) we decided we would be healthy and walk back down!!!!!. We saw the changing of the guard in the main square and walked to St Matyas Church and the Fisherman's Bastion.

The church was hidden on the outside by scaffolding, which is such a shame as it is a stunning building with a beautiful roof. The Fisherman's Bastion has turrets and arches and resembles a castle, however it was only built for show and have never been used as a bastion. You get stunning views over Pest, St Stephens Basilica and Parliment from the Bastion. Castle Hill is full of little narrow streets with Painted Buildings and No Fast food restaurants!!!!!!!, although there is a Hilton Hotel. Now I am sure that the Hilton is very nice but it sticks out like a sore thumb as there are all these old beautiful buildings then there is the Hilton which is a modern, glassy building and it just does not look right!!!!!!

We then had a walk around the grounds of the Royal Palace which houses the Hungarian National Gallery, the national library and has temporary collections for periods of time. We walked back down the hill which was a nice walk except our calves were killing us afterwards. We got back just before the rain started. After having a bit of a rest, we decided to have a walk around the shops as they were only 5 minutes walk from the hotel. There is a H & M, C & A (remember them!!!!!!), Mango and even a Marks & Spencers. The M & S store was like going back 20 years when M & S were known for dowdy clothes mainly for older people. There is a main area called Fashion Street which is under construction at the moment although some shops are open now. There will be stores such as Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren among others.

Getting about is very easy as there is the Metro, buses, trams, railways and the good old feet!!!!! We decided to see what we could on foot as I think you see more, although my feet are still suffering now!!!!!! We went to Longfords an Irish Bar (they are everywhere!!!!!) for tea as my hubby did not want to miss his beloved Liverpool playing!!! They offered a menu of English, Irish and Hungarian food. We had a walk round a few bars later trying out the pubs!!!!! We could not believe how quiet it was, everywhere was dead pretty much apart from a few people in another Irish Bar we stumbled across!!!!.

On the Sunday we had breakast at Cafe Anna which offered traditional Hungarian breakfasts and Pastries. It was actually quite warm today, we had wrapped up in a big coat, but ended up just wearing a jumper. We decided to walk along the riverside to the Parliment building which is a stunning building and can be seen for miles. Just behind Parliment is a small square with a sculpture of a small bridge with Imre Nagy standing looking over at the building. He was a former Prime Minster executed for his part in the Revolution. This is also one of the best spots to get a great photo of the Parliment Building.

We then walked to St Stephens Basilica which is one of the largest churches in Hungary and is a stuning old building. The dome can be seen for miles. We then walked to Andrassy Ut which is one of the main streets in Budapest said to be modelled on the Champs Elysees in Paris. It has lots of bars, cafes and shops such as Louis Vuitton, Guess and many others. It also home to the Opera House. The buildings are very old and beatiful, but because of all the fumes from the traffic, they have lost their colour and need a little TLC!!!!.

We were heading for Heroes Square and City Park and the Andrassy Ut seemed to go on for ever, at the other end of the road near to Heroes Square it is home to Embassies, lawyers and corporate companies. When you get to Heroes Square the first thing that catches your eye is the huge column of Angel Gabriel and statues of historic figures and a tomb of an unknown soldier. Behind the monuments is the City Park which houses the Zoo, Ice Rink and has lots of stalls, amusements and a boating lake. It also houses the Vajdahunyad Castle which has a Catholic Church in the grounds and a statue called Anonymous. This is a sculpture on a bench and is said to give writers who have writer's block inspiration!!!!. The Szechenyl Baths are also in City park. The baths is a medicinal spa which offers outdoor swimming all year round at 81 degrees constantly. Chess boards form part of the jettys around the pool.

Just at the edge of the park is the worlds largest Hour Glass which is rotated every new years eve. The park is really nice just strolling about and there were lots of familes enjoying the sunshine. As we made our way back down the Andrassy Ut, our feet were killing and we were starving so decided to have some junk food. We stopped at Burger King and was quite surprised to see that it was quite a smart restaurant as far as fast food restaurants go!!!!!! It was very clean and all done out like an American Diner and it was cheaper than Burger King is at home.

We saw that there was a T.G.I Friday on the same road and had decided that we were going to eat there that night, but when we got there we were told that the restaurant had been booked out all night as it was the USA Superbowl Final that night, so a group had booked the whole restaurant. We were gutted as we had been looking forward to it. We ended up at a Restaurant called Boxutca, which is a sport themed restaurant/cafe bar. The food was lovely and I even dared to have steak which was cooked perfectly!!!!! (I have a problem with steak being that it has to be well done all the way through with no pink, but you will be surprised how many chefs are unable to do this!!!!).

Our waiter was telling us that they also had a group booking from midnight for the Superbowl. When we had finished our food, we had a few drinks in the bar and made our way back to the Hotel. We had decided to get back before the Superbowl started as the bar was starting to get busy. The one thing that I did notice at night, was how many women walked about at night on their own in the dark. We did feel safe always but even so I do not think I would walk about on my own in the dark, but we saw lots of people doing it.

Our flight was not until 6.30pm, so we decided on our last day to see a few more sights and do some more walking!!!! (We are gluttons for punishment!!!!!). We made our way to the Great Synagogue which claims to be the largest in Europe and second largest in the world. It holds 3000 people and has a museum adjoining. The domes can be seen streets away and the Synagogue is a very striking building and you can go in and have a tour round it. In the courtyard at the back there is a silver weeping willow tree which has little leaves with names of families from the Holocaust. The Synagogue is also known as the Dohany Synagogue because it is on Dohany Street which translates to Tobacco!!!!

We decided to have a T.G.I Fridays lunch since we missed out last night and it worth the wait!!!!! On the way back down Andrassy Ut I asked my hubby to take me to Louis Vuitton to buy me a bag, but he was not playing!!!!

We noticed that it was very smoggy, so we were not sure if this was down to the town being busier with cars and pollution or if it was foggy. Either way I am glad we did not leave Castle Hill until today because we would not have seen much!!!!!.

If you go to Budpest for a holiday or just a weekend, it is worth checking to see if there are any concerts on. The Budapest Sport Arena advertised forthcoming concerts such as Kylie, Mark Knopfler, Chris Rea and the Show Stomp. There are also lots of sporting events held here.

On the minibus back to the airport we saw loads of signs for Tesco which is one of the main supermarkets in Hungary. We never saw any actual shops, so can ony presume that they are in the Suburbs. There is not a lot to buy in Budapest except the usual tack, but they are big on painted eggs, dolls, lace and crockery. A Hungarian sepciality is Goose Liver Pate, but this is very expensive (approx EUR20 for a very small tin!!!!!) I found the prices in Budapest to be comparable to those in the UK.

The flight back was nearly empty, we had a small delay that the plane left the gate but only circled and came back to the gate. Apparently there was something flashing that should not have been!!!! Needless to say an engineer came and fixed the problem and we set off ok.

Budapest is a lovely city and I would recommend it if you like old buildings and museums. The people are also friendly. For more information on Budapest, please see the official tourism site.